LSully9 wrote:It's gorgeous! I love that picture! It has now replaced Bret & Jemaine as the wallpaper on my mobile... And Milford track is one tour that I definately wanted to do! It's been on GlobeTrekker more than once and it's just breathtaking... It really is... Sigh...

Okay, Sully. **Turnip hocks a loogie into her palm, extends hand.** You and me, baby. We're going to do it. One day. You bring the gorp, I'll bring the flask of whiskey. I'll meet you in Queenstown, and the last one there's a rotten egg!

Sounds like a plan to me. You're not supposed to loogie, just spit. :spitting oath:

Two struggling musicians, living in poverty and despair, selling their...instruments.

OF COURSE! The more the merrier! There's always room for wonderful people!

But there is to be absolutely, positively NO LAUGHING at me when I exhaustedly give up half-way through and hitch a ride on a passing sheep. And NO PHOTOGRAPHS of that, either. I've learned the hard way on that one.

:gigglesnort: That article says you can rent walking sticks... You could just drag yourself along with those.

Two struggling musicians, living in poverty and despair, selling their...instruments.

I too am a water girl..and feel very lucky to live in ever so sunny Barcelona 20mins away from the beach. I'm just not sure about how well will i adjust to Luxembourg the moment i decide to join my BF there.. Maybe I can try and trick him into making periodic trips to NZ to make up for it

But if you did I'd hold you tight / Into every single nightAnd we'd fall asleep together / And we'd wake up in the sunlightWell, maybe I'm a dreamer / But maybe one day you'll see / That dreams are...

I've been through most of Western Europe but missed Spain and Portugal and I'd really like to go!

I grew up on the beach, literally. Our house was on The Strand. The front of our house met up with the walk path, past that the bike path, then the sand and the water. We always slept with the windows open, no matter how cold just so we could hear the sound of the waves all night.

Nancy Hillner wrote:I was on a repositioning cruise that stopped in Vigo, Spain, and Lisbon, Portugal. Truly lovely seaside spots to visit. It would have been nice to spend more time in each port - maybe next time.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - A captive reptile in New Zealand has unexpectedly become a father at the ripe old age of 111 after receiving treatment for a cancer that made him hostile toward prospective mates.

The centenarian tuatara, named Henry, was thought well past the mating game until he was caught canoodling with a female named Mildred last March -- a consummation that resulted in 11 babies being hatched on Monday.

Tuatara are indigenous New Zealand creatures that resemble lizards but descend from a distinct lineage of reptile that walked the earth with the dinosaurs 225 million years ago, zoologists say.

An endangered species, the hatchlings born at the Southland Museum and Art Gallery will provide a badly needed boost to the tuatara's genetic diversity, said the gallery's tuatara curator, Lindsay Hazley.

Henry was at least 70 years old when he arrived at the museum, "a grumpy old man" who attacked other reptiles, including females, until a cancerous tumor was removed from his genitals in 2002, said Hazley.

"I went off the idea he was good for breeding," Hazley told The Associated Press, but once the tumor was removed, "he was no longer aggressive."

The museum now has 72 of the reptiles after 42 hatchings in the past two years.

Hazley hopes to use Henry regularly in the breeding program that is helping expand tuatara numbers after they had been savaged by predators.

Tuatara are estimated to number about 50,000, most of them living in predator-free sanctuaries, including offshore islands.

A male Tuatara takes 70 years to fully mature but reaches sexual maturity about age 20.

While there's no scientific data on the life span of the ancient reptiles, "they go beyond 100 well and truly," Hazley said. "They can be around for 150 to 250 years."

Nancy Hillner wrote:I was on a repositioning cruise that stopped in Vigo, Spain, and Lisbon, Portugal. Truly lovely seaside spots to visit. It would have been nice to spend more time in each port - maybe next time.

Nance, that's a "repositioning cruise"?

When they need to get the ship from one coast or continent to another, it's called repositioning, and it's usually cheaper than an ordinary cruise. We caught the ship in Europe and they repositioned to the US for a season in the Caribbean. Others may go from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific (through the Panama Canal, which I hear is really cool because it's such a tight squeeze, with only a few feet on each side! )

Our cruise was 15 days, and it had the calmest seas I've ever seen. Even across the Atlantic, it was like glass, but when we got to Boston, they were preparing for Hurricane Floyd!

Innnnteresting. I've never heard of that. I've always wanted to go on a cruise but have never been. I'm thinking about trying to get my boyfreind to play one of those Jam Cruises or Rock Cruises so that we can go for free.

I love that story, DP! LOVE IT! So glad you posted it. I saw it in the Dom Post and got all misty-eyed at the thought of grumpy old Henry, the new daddy celebrating his eleventy-first birthday. And look at how teeny-tiny his little baby is! Awwwww. How can something be so criminally ugly and so wonderfully cute at the same time?

Sherry wrote:*sigh*

I have my dream house in New Zealand. I am looking at it on Google Maps as I type.

It's gorgeous. Stunning. And I want to live there.

The Bloke and I keep talking about moving out there. He's lived there before and loved it. I get the feeling I'd like it there

Did I mention the house is stunning

Oh please, Miss! Can we have pictures? Or coordinates? Go on, show us some real-estate porn. I love a saucy little cottage, me. Whereabouts is your dream home? North or South Island? Does it come with sheep? I like sheep.

My fantasy house in New Zealand looks out onto Wharariki Beach, which is just on the outer curve of Golden Bay at the tip of the South Island. Here's the view through the trees:

And here's the beach itself, with its beautiful sea-carved archway:

The house doesn't actually exist yet, but in my mind it's a lovely thing, with big breezy windows and warm wooden floors and soft white beds that you wake up in and hear the sound of the sea leaning in to say hello. And there's a big wooden table in the kitchen with room enough to spread out my papers and work for hours. And a stone-lined fire pit outside to sit around on chilly nights, and play the ukulele, and sing up into a sky that's full of strange and wonderful stars.